Algae Putting The Green Into Alternative-fuel Push

September 20, 2009|By Mark Glover McClatchy/Tribune News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eleven years ago, author, filmmaker and alternative-fuel advocate Josh Tickell came to the California capitol in a vehicle that ran on used vegetable oil, the fluid of choice to cook french fries.

"More people now know what is possible, that green energy solutions and technology are not just a dream. It's actually possible to end our dependence on foreign oil," Tickell said.

Tickell has gained international fame in the renewable-energy arena through film, books, advocacy and some highly publicized cross-country trips in alt-fuel vehicles. His coming documentary, "Fuel," examines the nation's energy history and emerging technologies.

In 1997, fresh out of college, he began crisscrossing the nation in a vehicle fueled by frying oil from some of America's most famous fast-food restaurants. He was spreading the word about a biodiesel.

This time, Tickell's chariot is the Algaeus, Exhibit A in his vision of a green energy future. Other than its green-and-white paint job, the Algaeus looks like a standard Prius, Toyota's popular gas/electric midsize sedan.

But under its skin, there is an extended battery pack and plug-in recharging, which differs from the mainstream Prius and lets Algaeus travel long distances in electric-only mode.

The Algaeus runs on a blend, including algae-based fuel produced by San Diego-based Sapphire Energy and "farmed" in Las Cruces, N.M.

Algaeus, thanks to major contributions from the electric motor and the onboard battery, can travel 150 miles on the first gallon of fuel. The vehicle is on a coast-to-coast journey that's expected to use a mere 60 gallons of algae-based biofuel.

When Tickell made his cross-country journey more than a decade ago in a biodiesel-powered Winnebago van he painted with sunflowers and called the "Veggie Van," he received a lot of chuckles from passers-by.

Now, he said, the nation is much more tuned in to green vehicles, with hybrids such as the Prius, Honda's new Insight and General Motors' coming Volt plug-in hybrid much in the news.

Tickell acknowledged that educating the public on green technologies is a marathon. But he pointed to Europe, where numerous alternative-fuel technologies are in use, endorsed by citizens and governments.

Tickell also noted algae's enormous potential: It grows quickly, it can be harvested from the sea or inland, and it does not involve the use of farmland otherwise used for food crops.

"If we could put the kind of support into this that we put into the computer, the Internet or the space race, we could literally end our dependence on foreign oil," he said.